The present disclosure relates to additive manufacturing. In particular, the present disclosure relates to support materials that can be used in additive manufacturing via xerographic printing.
Additive manufacturing, also referred to commonly as 3D printing, employs various build materials to assemble a printed object. When assembling objects with complex shapes, the process frequently uses an additional support material. The function of the support material is to provide a platform upon which to build 3-dimensional features such as overhangs that are required by virtue of assembling an object from the bottom up. The support material is sacrificial and generally removed via melting or by a solvent wash, thus serving its role as a temporary support when making complex three-dimensional objects. Suitable support materials are well known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,460,451 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. What remains to be further developed are support materials that can operate in the context of additive manufacturing via xerographic techniques. The present disclosure provides such materials and other advantages.